Educational Support Service

At Family Treatment Service, we understand that barriers to learning come in many forms, and it is not always easy to know how to best support a child. That’s why we’ve created our Educational Support Service: a place where individuals can seek support for educational difficulties without needing to know exactly what’s causing them, or what “diagnosis” is required.

In some cases it may be necessary to have a formal diagnosis, whereas in others, the focus may be better spent on supporting change in the presenting difficulty for example direct work with the child or their teachers.

Rather than focusing on specific diagnosis, we encourage anyone who is experiencing challenges with learning, communication, attention, or other aspects of education to meet with an experienced Educational Psychologist and explore the options available to them and their child, and gain a deeper understanding of differing approaches in order to make an informed decision about how to proceed.

Our expert team—including speech and language therapists, occupational therapists, and educational psychologists—will work with you to understand the difficulties and explore the best options for assessment and support.

Whether it’s struggles with reading and writing, attention and focus, sensory processing, or communication, we take a holistic, person-centered approach to identifying the underlying needs and recommending tailored interventions.

Our goal is simple: to remove barriers to learning and help every individual reach their full potential, and to support parents to understand the different approaches that can be taken, and which is the best fit for them and their child.

The process aims to collaboratively explore your child’s strengths and understand areas of difficulty, resulting in a greater understanding of a problem, so that we can be thoughtful in our recommendations and ensure they best meet your goals and address the presenting difficulties. Consultation is a staged approach to supporting a child or young person and typically involves the following stages:

Initial Consultation

The first step is a one hour appointment with parents/ carers only, which can be online or in person at our clinic in Wimbledon. This allows for an in-depth discussion about the child’s developmental history, their strengths and your concerns. We will make recommendations based on this and will provide you with a summary following the appointment, so you can make an informed decision on the best next steps for your child.

Assessment

Following your initial consultation, the Educational Psychologist may recommend a specialist assessment for your child. This may include completing observations, consultations with educational staff, direct work with your child to gather their views and/or formal assessment such as cognitive assessment to identify strengths and/or areas of difficulty. It may also include assessments for a formal diagnosis, such as Autism, ADHD or dyslexia.

Intervention

We will collaboratively agree intervention strategies to try at home, whole school/class approaches, group or individual sessions delivered by a member of school staff and/or direct therapeutic work with one of our multi-disciplinary team, as part of a 'plan-do-review' cycle.

The Educational Psychologist may also recommend an intervention with our multidisciplinary team, which consists of Psychiatrists, Occupational Therapists, Speech and Language Therapists, Clinical Psychologists, Specialist Teachers and Dramatherapists, all of whom specialise in supporting children